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It's officially OK now to recognize that China urgently needs economic reforms. Premier Wen Jiabao said so. So did Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is likely to take over from Wen when the Communist Party can sort out its power squabbles.

Every other economist has taken up the cause. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, noted in Beijing last month that "Re-engineering of the growth model is being advocated at the highest levels of government, and this is highly desirable."

The buzzwords are "rebalancing the economy". A quick glance at the structure of China's economy shows the problem. Consumption has fallen to 35 percent of gross domestic product, almost unprecedentedly low by world standards. India,...